Charmed Forever the missing scene
by Kicki
Summary: And so they all got their happy end! All? No, there was one character they forgot about. Or did they? Here's the scene that went missing.


**Author's note:** Charmed has ended after a 8-year run, and while most got their happy ending, and many loose threads were tied up, there was one that was forgotten about.

To my utter disappointment -not to say despair - Cole, who had done so much for them, whom they had to thank for being alive at all, and who even reached out from the Limbo he was encarcerated in, to help both Phoebe and Piper find their way back to love, was left in that Limbo to rot. No mention, no thanks, no letting Phoebe know what he had done for her, no hint that he was exonerated from his unfair (not to say cruel and unusual) fate. Instead Phoebe says she has never known love before...In my book that just isn't right!

So, without further ado, hereis:

**Forever Charmed - the missing scene.**

Coop let his fingers trail her body; up the arm and back down again, drawing tiny circles of love over Phoebe's soft skin.

_My wife_, he thought in quiet wonder. _Who would ever have thought…? _

Then again, if the Angel of Destiny weds you, it must be meant to be.  
It had been a rocky road though – and it was certainly not something he had planned on when he first came to her. Or did she come to him? Coop wasn't sure. With destiny you never knew.  
All he knew was that he had fallen in love with her from the moment he first set eyes on her. No, correction; he had been intrigued by her from the moment he began researching her life – he just hadn't paid much thought to why he tried to find out every last detail about her. It was, after all, his job and what he had to do.

_It's funny how things always look different when you look back.  
_  
He had tried so hard not to fall in love, thinking it would ruin everything. But here he was; in bed with his wife as of 12 hours ago and Phoebe had found love, and was happy and at peace for the first time in her life.  
As was he.

_I love you, Phoebe Halliwell…  
_  
Tenderly, he kissed her shoulder.

With a small sound, like that of a sleepy kitten, Phoebe stirred and slowly turned onto her back. "Again? Don't you ever get tired?" she asked, peering sleepily up at him and giggled at his expression. Smiling, she reached up to caress his cheek and lips. "I must be the luckiest girl in the world; being married to a cupid. Did you plan this?"

"No." He gently took her hand in his and brought it back to his lips to kiss. "The plan was to find love for you, though. I didn't mean it to be in this way."

"Regrets already?"

"Never." He kissed her hand again, eyes glowing a little with the love he felt.

"Hm," Phoebe mused. "If there's something I've learned it's that you can't chase after love. I think you have to keep your heart open and then love will find _you_."

"You're stealing my lines."

"Oh, don't flatter yourself!" She slapped him playfully in the chest. "I have worked with a cupid once before."

"And did a pretty good job too, I've heard. Ever considered being one?"

"Mm, no thanks. Maybe in the next life. I think being a Charmed One is more than enough." She sighed happily. "Right here, right now, I'm the happiest girl in the world."

"No regrets then?"

"None whatsoever." She reached up and gave him a long, loving kiss. "The name of my true love really do start with 'C'. I love you, Cole."

With an affronted mien, Coop drew back a little. "Okay, I may be a cupid, and I know Cole was special to you, but there are limits to the slip ups I can take on our wedding night."

Phoebe just smiled at him. "No slip up," she assured him, her deep, dark brown eyes caressing his face. "I know who you really are."

"Phoebe, I don't know what you're talking about, but you're scaring me."

"It scared me too," she admitted with a soft smile. "At first I refused to believe it, but then I realized that I had fallen in love with Coop because he reminded me so much of you. And I finally had to admit to myself that I have never wanted anyone but you. I've been looking for you since I was a little girl. I love _you_, Cole Turner, and I will always love you. Nothing can change that."

"Are you feeling okay?"

She could see his worry and concern shining through in his eyes. "I'm fine now. I'll be fine for ever more."

"This is a test, right?"

"Then I should have made it before I said 'I do', shouldn't I?"

That made sense – in a scary sort of way. "Why do you think I'm Cole?" he finally tried.

"Oh, tiny things; details. Each on its own, they were just coincidences, but all put together formed a different picture. I didn't notice at all at first; the possibility didn't even occur to me. But the things you said, the _way_ you said and did things. But most of all…this." Letting go a knowing laugh, she reached up to kiss him again; a thorough, long and sweet kiss. "I couldn't fool you when Paige and I had switched bodies. What makes you think you could fool me?"  
She was holding his face with both hands, smiling at his bewildered expression. "You don't have to pretend anymore."

With something close to panic in his eyes, he watched her silently, searching her face for a sign that she wasn't serious, but she had seen through to him – as she always had. He was the master of deception, but he had never been good at fooling her.

_I knew I shouldn't have agreed to do this. Now I've ruined everything._

"Phoebe…" he breathed, eyes closed, head bent. "I wanted you to move on; find love again. This wasn't supposed to happen."

"No, Cole," she corrected him softly. "This _was_ supposed to happen. I understand that now and it's okay. What I do want to know is how long you had planned to lie to me about it."

"I don't know. As long as I had to. I'm sorry."

"I'm not. You can make it up to me by telling me how all this happened. I guess the Elders never sent me a cupid?"

"Oh, that part was true. They just sent me _as_ a cupid."

"But how…? I mean why you of all people? How did they even find you?"

"Drake told Them about me, and they sought me out."

"Drake?" Phoebe's eyes narrowed. "You knew Drake?" Then she took a deep breath as pieces of the puzzle she never had been able to finish, were falling into place. "So you were the little bird who sang to him."

"Huh? Yes, I guess I was. He did it as a favor in return for me helping him to become human."

"Then it _was_ you! I really _did_ sense you that day, didn't I?"

He nodded slowly. "Yes. For a moment there I thought you saw me."

"So you are the 'old friend' Piper mentioned, but never told me about."

He nodded again. "I thought it would work, but it didn't."

"No, it did, Cole. It worked. Drake really did show me the road to love. I just went down it the wrong way."

"So the Elders sent me to help you on the right way. I didn't want to do it at first. I didn't want to risk…" He gestured at the bed. "_This_. I didn't want you to think it would be another attempt by me to win you back."

"So what made you change your mind?"

"They were very persuasive. They said that if I found you a love, they would break the curse that kept me in Limbo. I wonder if they knew this would happen?"

"Well, either way, you fulfilled your obligation." Phoebe snuggled close to him with a content sigh. Then she suddenly realized something, and sucked in air sharply. "What will happen to you now?"

He smiled too, then; a faint, thoughtful smile. "Nothing. As you said; I fulfilled my part of the bargain. I am free."

In truth, he didn't know if he was completely free; if he had atoned for his many crimes, or if he would find himself in Limbo again at some point in the future. But he didn't care to worry about that now. Maybe it was as one of the Elders had told him:

"_All things happen for a reason; the good deeds as well as the bad. If you hadn't done what you did, other things would not come to pass. The Source would still be alive, the Charmed Ones wouldn't. _

_"For the good you did do, we have decided that you have earned yourself a second chance. _

_"A chance to make things right. _

_"For Phoebe's sake I advice you to take it._"

For Phoebe's sake he had.

He watched her face closely for awhile. "Are you sure you are okay with this?"

"More sure than I've been in my life. Can I see your real face or are you stuck with Coop's? No that I mind."

The candlelight flickered over his features as Coop's figure wavered slightly and then Cole Turner was lying beside her in the bed.  
Trembling, she ran her hands over his familiar features; the short, curly hair, his thick eyebrows, the clean shaved cheeks, his sensitive mouth. "Cole…" she whispered. "Oh, Cole…"

"Is this okay?" he whispered, hardly daring to speak.

"Okay? It's beautiful. Oh, god, I have missed your eyes, and your smile so much."

Her fingers brushed over his lips and he kissed them and smiled the way only Phoebe could make him smile: A smile that wasn't so much a smile as it was the light of his love shining through in his eyes, lighting up his entire visage. "How do we explain this to your sisters?"

"We'll think of something." Tears of joy welled up in her eyes, and she laughed a little. "Just don't ever leave me again! No matter what I say or do; don't you dare leave me ever again!"

"I promise," he whispered and leaned down to kiss her with his own lips for the first time in many years.

As she tenderly and passionately kissed him back, wrapping herself around his body to get as close as she could, a wondrous feeling enveloped him in a warm sensation of utter relief. It was the feeling of finding yourself at the end of the road, and not be lost, but home; safe.

_I'm home. I made it back home.  
_  
"I love you, Phoebe," he breathed into her ear as he kissed her neck, reveling in the many pleasures of her body. "I love you more than anything else in any world, and I will never ever leave you again."

**_THE END_**


End file.
